Page 2 of The Sheik's Kiss

“Your driver’s license,” the cashier repeated without sympathy. “It’s expired.”

Mandy took the license and stared at the tiny numbers and letters. Sure enough, her driver’s license had expired three months ago. “Impossible!” she whispered.

“I can’t sell you this wine without a valid driver’s license,” he said, still maintaining that bland, bored, “I can’t believe I have to deal with this” expression on his acne-prone features.

“Right,” Mandy muttered, stuffing the useless driver’s license back into her purse. She didn’t bother to put it into her wallet since it was no longer valid. Unfortunately, that meant that her fingers had to shove aside her most recent car inspection notice. Her car had failed the state’s safety inspection. She needed new tires and a new headlight. How could only one headlight die on a car? The nearly bald tires…yeah, she understood that. The car was almost eight years old and had over one hundred thousand miles on it. The tires…had she ever replaced them? Obviously not. But the one broken headlight…that was a mystery.

“What happened to your face?” the zit-faced cashier asked as he swiped the extra-large bag of potato chips over the store scanner.

“My face?” she gasped as her hand flew to her cheek. The numbing of her tooth for the dental surgery had momentarily numbed the aching wound that had reddened her cheek.

He scanned a tub of sour cream and onion dip, dumping it into the fabric bag. “Yeah, the scrape looks fresh.”

Damn her clumsiness! With everything else that had gone wrong today, Mandy had forgotten about the scrape across her cheek. “I…uh…fell into a fence,” she admitted. That was the truth, but Mandy didn’t add that, in addition to the fifteen hundred dollars for a root canal, possibly another one thousand dollars for new tires, she also had the joyous – insert sarcasm here – opportunity of hiring someone to replace the fence in her backyard since she’d literally fallen on it yesterday while trying to rip out some stubborn weeds. Thankfully, she’d landed butt-first so her derriere had received the bulk of the damage. No pun intended.

He callously dumped the cheddar “cheese” dip into the fabric bag, then added the container of jalapeno cheddar cheese dip and the French onion dip on top of the chips. Since the potato chip bag was filled with air to protect the chips, Mandy wasn’t overly concerned. Still, he could have shown a bit more reverence for potato chips. They were food of the gods, right? Or was he unaware of the new-found status of potato chips?

Idiot!

When he dropped the carton of cherry vanilla ice cream and bag of Hershey kisses into the bag, Mandy pulled out her credit card. While sliding it into the credit card machine, Mandy held her breath, praying that her card wouldn’t be declined. It wasn’t that she thought it would be rejected. She had plenty of credit left on her card and she paid the total balance every month. However, it felt as if fate was conspiring against her.

Thankfully, the machine accepted her card and the blessed words, “Approved” flashed onto the small screen. Mandy released her breath and pulled her card out, stuffing it back into her wallet.

“Have a nice day!” the cashier replied as he handed over her fabric grocery bag full of decadence and “recovery”.

“Thanks,” she automatically replied, then took the bag, hugging it to her chest as she walked out of the grocery store. “What’s the next horrible thing that’s going to hit me?” she muttered, heading to her car.

Ten minutes later, Mandy pulled into the driveaway of her tiny house and sighed with happiness. “Home!” she muttered, grabbing her purse and her groceries. She should probably eat something healthy before she dove into the bag of chips and dip, but at the moment, she didn’t have the mental strength for anything other than gobbling up the chips and dip while binge watching “Lawful Arrest,” the crime drama series that she’d already watched at least twenty times. She’d seen each episode so often, she could almost quote the dialogue right along with the characters.

Mandy had just shoved her key into the lock when she felt, rather than heard, someone pull into her driveway.

Turning, her jaw dropped as she watched the beautiful, sleek limousine come to a smooth, silent stop behind her tiny, non-descript sedan.

“Great!” she muttered. “This is the perfect ending to an absolutely miserable day!”

Mandy’s heart pounded against her ribcage as she watched Sheik Zahir bin Aristi, ruler of one of the wealthiest countries in the world, unfold his powerful, startlingly handsome body from the limousine. Sidrina was powerful and rich and the man walking towards her was…awesome! At well over six feet in height, not to mention a lithe body packed with muscles, Mandy couldn’t seem to pull her eyes away. She’d seen him a few times before now, and she’d had the same awestruck reaction to him every time.

And she hated him for it!

Mandy didn’t want to react this way to a man that was so entirely out of her league. The guy was engaged to a gloriously beautiful woman who had bragged about her upcoming…uh…wealth…all over the internet just a few days ago.

Not to mention Sheik Zahir bin Aristi was powerful, wealthy, and…above all…royal. Mandy had learned very early on in life that boys…or men like Sheik bin Aristi…didn’t fall for women like her. They went after the tall, beautiful, sophisticated women such as this man’s fiancée.

Mandy was an accountant who had just started her own business. Her accounting firm was making a profit, but she pushed all of those profits back into building up her company. So things were tight. Painfully tight.

This man probably never worried about the future. He had plenty of minions to worry for him!

Shifting the bag nervously in her hands, Mandy stared at the man walking towards her, thinking how nice it would be to have minions. At the moment, she wanted someone who could get her a bottle of wine! Was that asking too much?

Obviously, that wasn’t going to happen, she thought as she hugged her bag of groceries closer to her chest.

“Your Highness,” she greeted the man, refusing to curtsy. She wasn’t one of his subjects and she wouldn’t bow down to anyone! Least of all a man who could probably crush her little house with one of his closets.

Okay, that was really weird imagery, but…well, it was the point! Reality didn’t matter when she was trying to make a point, even if that point was merely in her own mind.

“Good evening, Ms. Sullivan. How are you today?” he asked, lifting her hand to his lips.

It would be bad to pull her hand away, she told herself firmly as she braced herself for the impact of his lips against her skin. Holding her breath, she watched as his mouth descended. That’s when she looked into his dark eyes, startled to discover that he was staring right back at her.

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